What is personal data?

It's data that can identify a living person. As you can imagine, this covers a wide range of types of information from religion, gender, name and address, but it's not considered personal data unless it 'relates to' the individual. And if you're collecting data, you need to consider the range, purpose for processing and the impact of processing that data on the individual. The data can also be incorrect, but is still considered personal data for UK GDPR purposes.

Our overriding message is that you own your data, we don't.

That's what puts us in a different sphere to many other event booking sites. Your data has never been, and never will be, a commodity for us to trade. You own it. When you sign up to Plus4Events, you will be licensing an app that's an outsourced service. That's all we do; we provide an event booking and evaluation collection app that you use to collect your attendees' information and use it however you wish, within Data Protection and GDPR rules of course.

Why is this important?

Research showed that some businesses experienced difficulty in getting ready for the GDPR. A study of 750 decision makers said that data security is a concern for them, that 69% lacked data security management and 45% found that they had problems ensuring their customer data was secure. There was a problem amongst UK businesses about securing their customer data and if you are taking event bookings from people that you want to be future customers, your business needs to show that their data is secure.

That's where we can help you.

At Plus4Events, we're able to help you carry that burden. We have technological systems in place for you to take bookings, with you making the decision about what data that you need to collect. The data that's submitted belongs to you, we don't sell it on or market other events to your attendees.

We keep all our customers' data separate from each other. Imagine different silos of data so that they won't cross pollinate from one customer to another. Any event feedback is also under your ownership and for you to use.

And don't forget to speak to us

You can see that we're able to support you in your business of running events and can provide you with the technical and administrative knowledge to keep you GDPR compliant. You'll have an event registration app that helps you to comply with GDPR and the Data Protection Act.

Resources

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/facebook-hearing-congress

ITPro, 5 March 2018, GDPR News: Most UK firms 'struggling' to secure data ahead of GDPR.

GDPR, Article 5

http://www.itpro.co.uk/cloud-security/30940/research-dampens-claims-cloud-providers-are-gdpr-ready

https://www.kamilfranek.com/how-facebook-makes-money-business-model-explained/

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/key-definitions/what-is-personal-data/

About the Author

Teresa is a co-founder of Plus4Events, taking a particular interest in the challenges that organising successful events can bring. She's written extensively about the practical aspects of getting events to work, publishing many articles here on Plus4Events.

Outside of work, hands-on volunteering with a national association of small business, supports their Women In Business events. She's also a keen runner and supporter of the local Parkrun events.